Monday, October 22, 2007

Bits and Pieces

I meant to post these over the weekend, but my body told me I needed rest, so I have done nothing much more than nap and read since I came home from work on Friday. It did me good -- I am feeling like myself again today.

This is the doll I received in my "goth swap" from Kate Erbach. Isn't she wonderfully weird and adorable? I notice cool things about her almost every time I look at her, like the sheer skull fabric of her skirt, the neat lacing of her faux leather overskirt, and her little pet on her shoulder. I tried to get a good photograph of the skeleton dangling from her left hand, but I guess he is shy. He kept turning away from the camera... Thank you Kate -- you have restored my faith in swapping!

It is finally cool enough in my upstairs clay room to play with my clays without having them melt in my hands, so I have been diddling around with some techniques I learned from Christi Friesen's books. These ornaments (which are much more green than they appear -- very Christmas-y!) were inspired by a discussion on FabricDollArt on the Victorian style of Christmas ornaments. I don't much like Victorian -- too fussy -- but I like these. Thanks ladies!

Beadwork Magazine has put out a special issue called Step-by-Step Jewelry, which includes another tutorial by Christi for these Turtledoves. They look small in the photo -- the one on the right is actually nearly 5" long. They were SO much fun to make!

And speaking of fun to make, this little guy is made out of glow-in-the-dark clay. He was inspired by the work of Pat Graham, "dancingbuffalo" on eBay. I have never yet been able to win an auction for one of her pieces, so gave it a shot myself. He turned out pretty cute, but he did freak me out the first time I saw him dangling from the necklace rack in my room in the middle of the night. He really DOES glow, and brightly too.

I have been doing a lot more spinning since I began working. It is such an easy thing to just sit down and begin to spin. No set-up and no clean-up involved. I am going to have to think of something to do with all the yarn -- I am running out of places to put it!

This beautiful stuff is special though. It is a silk/merino blend in exactly the colors of the inside of a pink seashell. By the time I finish spinning the bump I have, I ought to have enough yardage to knit something fine and lacy. In the meantime, I just like to touch it!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful goth doll and love the clay hearts, doves and that cutie skeleton. Fun stuff!!

Kai said...

Now THIS is what I call a COOL BLOG ENTRY! First Katie's doll: WONDERFUL! VERY Kate! I think her dolls are ALWAYS a happy surprise because there's such detail and so many surprise elements in them! You two were a great swap match! The clay hearts and turtledoves are exquisite! Makes me want to pull out MY clay! (Not that I could EVER produce anything that lovely, but I would still have fun playing!) And the glow-in-the-dark fellow - is he a ghost? - is TOO cute! My fave, actually! Finally, I look forward to seeing what you make with that luscious pink yarn! Whereas many people can look at fabric & visualize a completed item, I can do that with yarn. So I understand your pleasure in just touching that silk/merino blend!

Judi W. said...

I am so glad that you had such a great swap! Isn't Kate the best swap partner! I just love this little girl - she has the most amazing face. Love those big eyes. Your clay projects are wonderful - the doves are so intricate. Good to hear you are feeling better!

Linda Fleming said...

You have lots of goodies to look at today! Your doll from kate is great. So glad you has a good swap.

I love your ornaments- those are sowonderful- I especially love the birds.

Your ghost is adorable- I didn't even know there was a glow in the dark clay!

You spin your own yarn??? Good grief, woman- is there anything you can't do? What an amazing and talented woman you are!

Shashi Nayagam said...

She is so beautiful. But not surprising as it is doll made by Kate. Lucky you.
I love the jewelry pieces. What a multitalented lady you are.

Courtney Short said...

I am not a "goth" type person - but that doll is great!! Very unusual and anyone would be proud to receive it! It is refreshing when you join a swap where everyone creates things that would like to receive - I stopped swapping on swap-bot b/c of the stuff I received that people just threw together. Your turtle doves are just great!! They would look perfect on my tree ;-) I didn't know you spun yarn.. that is cool -to spin yarn and then knit something out of it. Your knitting is always so pretty.. I have taken 2 beginner classes and still can't seem to really get into it.

Hey - send me your email addy - I can never reply to your comments on my blog b/c it comes up as "no reply" in the address portion.